MISSOULA, Mont. — A Lolo man admitted to distributing and receiving child pornography on Thursday.

Erik Robert Salazar, 29, pleaded guilty to distributing and receiving child pornography. He now faces a mandatory minimum of five to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and five years to life of supervised release on each count.

Court documents say Salazar uploaded two images of sexually abusive material to Snapchat, after a Cyber ​​Tipline tip sparked an investigation.

Detectives seized the content of his Snapchat account, where they discovered that he had been in contact with underage women between September 2015 and October 2023.

He used the app to solicit sexually explicit images and videos of minors during that period.

The case was part of the Safe Childhood Project which aims to combat the epidemic of child exploitation and abuse.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana sent the following:

A Lolo man accused of distributing and receiving child pornography admitted to the charges today, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said.

The defendant, Erik Robert Salazar, 29, pleaded guilty to distributing and receiving child pornography. Salazar faces a mandatory minimum of five to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and no less than five years to life of supervised release for each count.

Federal Judge Kathleen L. DeSoto presided over the session. Sentencing was set before U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen for March 13, 2025. The court will determine any sentence after considering U.S. sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. Salazar was detained pending further proceedings.

The government alleged that in September 2023, Missoula County Sheriff’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children detectives received a Cyber ​​Tipline report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The report originated from Snapchat, which informed NCMEC that a user, later identified as Salazar, had uploaded two images of child sexual abuse material to its servers in August 2023. Detectives determined that the Snapchat account belonged to Salazar and received the remaining content of your account. Detectives discovered that Salazar’s communications with other parties on Snapchat were replete with contacts with underage females between September 2015 and October 2023. Salazar consistently requested images and videos of minors with whom he communicated of those minors engaged in conduct. sexually explicit. Some of these minors sent Salazar said images and videos in response to his requests. Salazar used Snapchat to send some of these minors images and videos depicting other minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

The Federal Prosecutor’s Office is prosecuting the case. The FBI and the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a national initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children over the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit Justice.gov/PSC.